American Freight applauded for move to bigger location in Eastlake | Bouquets and Brickbats

The relocation of American Freight from its former Vine Street site in Willoughby to 34700 Vine St. in Eastlake is good news for the latter city, which has been working hard to bring in new businesses and fill vacant buildings.

American Freight Furniture and Mattress moved down Vine Street about a mile and is now located in the Vineyards Shopping Center building that was once occupied by Good Cents Groceries and More Store, which closed in March 2015. The Eastlake administration has been working to find a new business to occupy that space since then.

The furniture and mattress store is growing and the new store in Eastlake is considerably larger, allowing the retailer to offer customers a bigger selection of merchandise, according to a news release.

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“As we have continued to grow in Cleveland, we realized that we needed larger stores to satisfy the demand for affordable brand name furniture and mattresses,” said Northeast Ohio Territory Manager Mark Randles in the release. “This store is larger, allowing us to offer a wider selection of quality furniture and mattresses. In addition, to offer Cleveland consumers more purchasing options, we recently added take it home today with low easy payments, no credit needed in all of our stores.”

We wish American Freight and Mattress the best of luck in its more spacious location, and congratulate the city of Eastlake on attracting this business.

The department recently announced that it was awarded the federal funding from the Ohio Department of Public Safety.

The money came via the Ohio Traffic Safety Office from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for traffic law enforcement.

The purpose of the grant is to assist in assigning patrol officers traffic duties to focus on priority violations, such as impaired and distracted driving, seat belt use, speed and motorcycle safety. The ultimate goal is to promote safe streets and reduce fatalities.

“The grant money goes directly to pay officers to work the road, enforcing safe driving behaviors,” said Police Lt. Dan Molnar. “They will be on the look out for speed, distracted driving, and OVI violations. The money is divided up throughout the year and will allow us to have extra patrols each month, especially around the holidays and other events.”

Hopefully, that the grant money will have a significant impact on improving traffic safety in the city of Mentor.

Rowe, 36, accused of molesting two girls, was found guilty of two counts of rape and one count of gross sexual imposition after two days of jury deliberations earlier in November.

According to the indictment, one of Rowe’s alleged victims was under 10 years old when the assaults started. The other girl was under 13, the indictment shows.

The alleged incidents occurred between October 2014 and August 2015 in Willowick, according to the indictment.

Rowe will be eligible for parole in 30 years, court records show.

However, Lake County Prosecutor Charles Coulson said he doubts Rowe will be granted parole in 30 years.

In our opinion, Rowe should spend the rest of his life behind bars for the despicable crimes that he committed.

BRICKBATS >> To Michael Chandler of Cincinnati, after he was sentenced to nearly 17 years in prison for selling a lethal dose of fentanyl to a 17-year-old boy.

In handing down the recent prison sentence to Chandler, U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett also ordered the defendant to cover the cost of the teen’s funeral.

Chandler had pleaded guilty to drug distribution and possession.

The teen, identified in court documents as J.H., was found dead of an overdose in April 2016 in his home in Campbell County, Kentucky. Police said they traced the fentanyl that killed him back to Chandler.

Investigators said they searched Chandler’s home and found a large quantity of fentanyl, along with cocaine, drug paraphernalia, a handgun and ammunition.

Clearly, the longer that a dangerous drug dealer like Chandler is kept in prison and off of the streets, the better.